Lucky Penny
by Darling Pretty
Summary: He was the kind of guy who wouldn't even notice a lucky penny lying on the ground. She was the kind of girl who'd find a lucky penny and give it to someone else. Addex. Oneshot.


**Well, hi there. It's three in the morning, so this shall be brief.**

**This is my 100th story. I had some trouble deciding what to write, because I wanted it to be _epic_. But then I realized I don't write epic stories, so I accepted it and returned to what I do best- writing stories based on songs. The winner today is "Lucky Penny" by Regina Spektor and I almost demand you listen to it. (As I am making my habit, if you follow me on Twitter, Darling_Pretty, I've posted a link for easy access.) I chose it because... well, I'm a huge proponent of paying it forward and random acts of kindness. And Addison strikes me as the sort of person who would be selfless. So there you have it.**

**I lied. That wasn't brief at all. Well, enjoy! As always, I own nothing.**

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He has never been in love before. Not really. He realizes that now. So the whole thing was nervous and terrifying and just terrible. He had always kind of just assumed that his past had screwed him over in that department.

But, in that terrible, horrible, clichéd way he just _knows_. Couldn't tell you _how _he knows, because that would be like trying to give words to the rush of surgery or wrestling. You just can't _explain_ it. It's impossible. He just knows.

And the thing that really, seriously pisses him off? He can pinpoint the exact moment he knew. Awful, right? He's turning into a freaking chick. But he can. He can't explain _how _he knows, but he can tell you exactly _when _he knew.

_She had walked out of the hospital a couple seconds ahead of them, both of them on their ways home after a particularly grueling night shift. He hadn't been watching her (except okay, maybe he had been just a little, but the woman's hot, so that's okay, right?), but he saw her bend down and pick something up on the ground (and okay, maybe he enjoyed that view a little more than he should have). He frowned. _

What's that? _he had asked._

_She smiled and held a copper coin up for him to see. _Lucky penny.

Oh. Cool.

_She had smiled a queer little smile then. It was almost self-deprecating, if a smile could be self-deprecating. _Everybody needs a little luck sometimes, _she had told him._

Yeah, I get that, _he replied._

_She pursed her lips, thinking. They had talked through the night, sitting in the NICU when they didn't have anything better to do than chart. So they sat and they talked. Not about very much and certainly not about anything important, but he thought they turned a corner. Maybe they were friends now. A little bit anyways._

_And then her hand shoots out and she grabs his wrist, turning his palm upwards. She presses the penny into his hand. _Here, you take it.

No. You found it. _He tried to hand the coin back to her, but her hands clenched into fists and she shook her head._

It's yours, Karev. Just take it and say thank you.

You found it,_ he insisted._

You don't know how to say thank you, do you? s_he asked. _Here, it's not that hard. You just say "thank" and then "you." Go on, try. I bet you can do it.

_He rolled his eyes_. Addison, you found the damn penny. It's yours.

And I'm giving it to you. I want you to have it. Now say thank you.

Thanks, _he said reluctantly, slowly pocketing the coin._

_She laughed. She had an easy, breathy way of laughing that made him want to hear more. It didn't seem like it would take that much to make her laugh it again. It seemed easy and natural and constant. But it seemed a little rusty, like no one had tried to get her to laugh lately. _See? It wasn't so hard. Bet it would be even easier if you practiced.

_She turns her attention to her purse. _What are you doing? _he inquired._

Looking, _she replied easily._

_He rolls his eyes again. _For what?

This. _Triumphantly, she holds up a little coin purse. _Knew it was in here somewhere.

What are you doing?

Paying it forward, _she answered simply, pulling a penny out. Then she bends down again and places the coin carefully heads up. _There. _She smiles at her handiwork. _Another lucky penny.

Why'd you do that?

Everybody needs a little luck sometimes, Karev.

What about you? _The question slipped out before he thought about it. But he really does wonder who's taking care of her._

_She laughed again, confirming his suspicion that it's not difficult to achieve. But he still was oddly proud he could elicit that merry sound twice in less than ten minutes. _I have enough, _she says simply. _I don't need any more luck. I've got what I want.

_Except he had thought she didn't. She didn't have Derek and she didn't want Sloan and she wasn't even in a city she had chosen for herself. _I don't get it, _he admitted._

_She shook her head and inclined it to tell him to walk with her. They stopped ten yards away from the penny and watched as a family left the doors of the hospital, the mom in a wheelchair, the father looking grave. But the little boy bent down and picked up the shiny piece of copper. _Hey, Mom! _he had called. _I found a lucky penny!

_His mom had smiled. And then she had to hide tears when he gave it to her. _I don't need luck, Karev, _Addison had repeated. _I have enough.

_She smiled again, a slow, almost sleepy, grin. _Enjoy your lucky penny, Karev.

_And then she had walked off and left him to think._

Oh, yes. That was the moment he had known he was in love. Which kind of sucked. Because he's the kind of person who wouldn't even notice the penny in the first place. And she's the sort of person who would not only give away her lucky penny, she'd leave _another _one.

But there's this one day, where he's just walking down the hallway of the hospital when a glint in his peripheral vision catches his eye. He looks and it's a penny. So he bends down and picks it up. It's a lucky penny—of course he's going to pick it up.

And then he gets an idea—a terribly cheesy idea. And when Addison approaches him to ask him to scrub in, he subtly drops the penny into her pocket. She doesn't notice right away.

In fact, it's only after the surgery when she shoves her hands into her lab coat pockets that she pulls out the little disc. She looks a little surprised and turns to look at him. "There's a penny in my pocket," she comments.

"Huh."

"Why is there a penny in my pocket?"

"I dunno. Did you put it there?"

"Why would I put a penny in my pocket, Karev?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. She's trying to crack him.

"I don't know your life. You _do _kind of have a penny fetish."

She rolls her eyes and laughs a little. "I need to talk to you, Dr. Karev," she says very professionally, "in private."

"Okay," he agrees hesitantly.

They walk into an empty on call room. "I want the truth now," she announces, closing the door behind her.

"You think a change in scenery is going to make me tell the truth?"

She looks a little disappointed in him and he kind of wishes he hadn't been so snarky. It hadn't occurred to him that she might actually want to hear him say yes. "I thought you were just trying protect your precious badass reputation," she replies lightly, her eyes belying the easy tone.

"I put the penny there, okay? Can I go now?"

"Why?"

"Why do I want to go now?"

"The penny," she states, crossing her arms.

He shrugs. "Paying it forward, I guess."

"I don't need anybody to look after me, Karev."

"Yeah, well, everybody needs a little luck sometimes," he replies.

She laughs in surprise as she recognizes her own words. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Predictability's boring," he shrugs.

Another laugh. And this time it's the same breezy, joyous laugh that probably made him fall in love with her in the first place. "I like that. A lot actually. There's hope for you yet."

And while she's smiling, he lives up to the motto she so loves and kisses her. And it's _that _kiss. The one you read about, that leaves you breathless and wanting more and just plain happy. And all he can think about is the fact that he can _feel _her smile against his lips when she slides her arms around his neck.

"Still paying it forward, Karev?" she asks when they pull away.

"Your lucky day," he chuckles and kisses her again.

And the one thing that he will never, ever get tired of is the fact that she smiles when she kisses him.

_I didn't find a lucky penny, so I flipped it over and left it for someone else to find._

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**Hope you liked it!**

**-Juli- **


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